The Aftermath
by OperatorAlpha
Summary: 20 years after the destruction of the Institute, the remaining 3 factions work out their differences and try to work together with the re-surfacing of old technologies taught to be gone, but a new threat lurks in the shadows, will this threat succeed in breaking their ties and go to war against one another?Or will these allies pull the monster out from the dark and defeat it?


**A/N: This is a pilot chapter for a new story, if people like the idea, gains enough attention, or if I want to, this will become a full story.**

 **Chapter 1: 20 Years Later (Timeline included)**

October 2287: The Sole Survivor emerges from Vault 111, soon after, heads into Concord and meets Minuteman Preston Garvey who promotes the Sole Survivor to General of the Minuteman.

October 2287: A few days later he heads into downtown Boston and discovers Diamond City where he meets Mayor McDonough, Reporter Piper Wright (Who interviews him almost immediately) and Detective Nick Valentine after his rescue

November 2287: The Sole Survivor discovers the ruins of Cambridge Police Station, to his surprise it was inhabited by a "soldier" referred to as "Paladin Danse" and the remains of his squad. He helps in retrieving a transmitter and is granted rank of "Initiate" in the organization known as the "Brotherhood of Steel"

November 2287: A few days after, the Sole Survivor and Nick Valentine, a synth detective goes and finds the killer of his wife and kidnapper of his child in military installation Fort Hagen, the man named Kellogg was killed in revenge, shortly after Brotherhood flagship known as the "Prydwen" arrives in the Commonwealth, the Sole Survivor, Nick Valentine and Paladin Danse travel to the airship, After Maxon's speech the Sole Survivor is promoted to "Knight" with a free set of T-60b Power Armor.

December 2287: Kellogg's chip found in his brain has lead the Sole Survivor to Dr. Amari as recommended by Nick Valentine, the memories show that it was the "Institute" who was behind the act and sets out to find the "Railroad". Upon finding this "Railroad" they set him on a quest to take back important documents with an agent called "Deacon", the mission is a success and the Sole Survivor was allowed to join the Railroad with the codename "Bullseye".

January 2288: The Sole Survivor is sent to find a "Courser" to take its chip by force to build a certain machine to grant him access to the Institute. He successfully kills the Courser and with the help of the Minutemen, the Brotherhood of Steel and he Railroad they make the machine and the Sole Survivor enters the "Belly of the Beast". Upon arrival he finds a synth version of his son and his real son has aged and is the "Director" of the Institute. The Sole Survivor is torn.

February 2288: After doing quests with all four factions, the day of decision came about as the Institute needed a Beryllium Agitator for a reactor, out of a hard moral decision he decided to inform the Brotherhood of Steel and took the Agitator with Proctor Ingram and Paladin Danse, this causes him to be locked out of the Institute for good.

March 2288: The Sole Survivor takes the "Castle" referred to as before Fort Independence back with the help of Preston Garvey and other Minuteman, a few days after, Veteran Ronnie Shaw shows the way to the Armory where they discover "Sarge" the Sentry Bot and the body of Former General McGann, the uniform is taken and used as a relic in his office stating that it will be used as a reminder why he will reform the Minutemen into a power the people can depend on.

April 2288: The Sole Survivor is summoned by Elder Arthur Maxon and is accused of helping a synth, an argument is started and it is found out that Paladin Danse was a synth, sent on a mission to execute Danse, he argues at first but follows through with a heavy heart but Scribe Haylen tells him to give Danse a chance. As soon as Danse's location is found he proceeds to persuade Danse to live and not do what Maxon would want him to do, he told him to be human. Danse agrees but Maxon was on site, an argument begun between the Sole Survivor, Piper Wright, Paladin Danse and Elder Maxon who eventually agrees to banish Danse from the Brotherhood and promotes him to the rank of Paladin with the addition of being given the banished Paladin's suit of Power Armor.

May 2288: The time to eradicate the "Boogeyman of the Commonwealth" has come, a plan was formulated and was decided on but the Institute got bold and attacked the Castle, this has proved the resilience of the X-01 Power Armor and its unknown origins to be very useful as the attack happened when the Castle was understaffed. Shortly after the attack a small team which consisted of the Sole Survivor, his close friend Ex-Paladin Danse, Piper Wright and his good friend Ex-Mercenary MacCready. The destruction of the Institute made the turning point of the Commonwealth for the better.

2289: Tensions have raised as the Minutemen rose to power as the Brotherhood of Steel and the Railroad saw them as a threat. The Sole Survivor kept war from erupting.

2290: Minutemen recon units find an old military factory capable of making weapons at a rate where a standard issue weapon would be available to the Minutemen. The Brotherhood and the Railroad see this as a threat also rising tensions.

2293: More factories are found in the Commonwealth and are turned to military factories as best as possible, these are capable of producing vehicles and armor, most of them are turned into joint operated factories by all 3 factions.

2295: Schematics for Pre-War APCs are found and modified to use less power and fuel, the first 9 are scheduled to roll of the assembly line in a few months, all 9 were split even between the factions.

2297: The newly reformed Minutemen are introduced to the Corps system from centuries ago which establishes the Infantry Corps, Shock Trooper Corps, Medical Corps, Specialists Corps, Engineers Corps, Heavy Weapons Corps and many more while also being re-introduced to the Pre-War ranking system.

2299: Schematics for Pre-War tanks are found in deep in the Glowing Sea, production is started, and first units are to be released 6 months after, units made split evenly and lowers tensions again.

2300: The Sole Survivor, Elder Maxon and Desdemona sign a treaty to form an alliance should threats larger and more dangerous than the Institute happen again. This was known as the "Pact of Cambridge".

2301: Old military installations and medical facilities are cleared out, renovated and utilized by the Minutemen and then given to the other factions, the "Switchboard" is cleared out once more and turned into the Joint Alliance's main intelligence office, second being Fort Hagen.

2303: Schematics for Vertibirds are released by the Brotherhood, first one made in largest joint factory, first units are split evenly, thus creating the Minutemen's Air Guard Corps.

2305: First joint operation known as Operation: Iron Thunder to take the GNN building known as "Gunners Plaza", the very first time the newly made APCs, Tanks and Vertibirds prove effective as Gunners' defenses fell almost immediately, making the operation last for only 2 hours due to overwhelming numbers and armored vehicles. High ranking Gunners were taken prisoner and brought to the Switchboard for interrogation.

2306: Spectacle Island is re-taken and turned into a joint Airbase named "Airbase Spectacle"

2307: The 4th Platoon of the Infantry Corps takes their first mission taking place in Corvega Assembly Plant after a settlement was attacked and a caravan reported to have gone missing with the unusable factory in the route.

 **Commonwealth Wasteland**

 **En-Route to Corvega Assembly Plant**

 **1700 Hours**

A convoy of three APCs were travelling towards the unusable factory at an alarming speed, overhead a Vertibird carrying the 4th squad was above them keeping up with the pace of the convoy, as they reached the turn the commander of the lead vehicle yelled at the gunner of the main turret.

"Howard! Give 'em an HE round, target is that walkway to the left, 2nd vehicle you take out the right one, fire!" the commander yelled.

"Up!" the loader yelled.

"On the way!" the gunner replied as the APCs flung their explosive projectiles taking out majority of the defenders.

The Vertibird opened up with its front mounted cannons and then flew low as its cannons fired and the door gunners let loose all while deploying their squad. The APCs stopped, tires screeching as their doors opened, first to come out were the Heavy Weapons units came out first, clad in their T-60 Power Armor, courtesy of the Brotherhood after giving them tanks and APCs, their Miniguns and Rocket Launchers fired at the raiders, suppressing them from shooting just as the regular troops came out.

Private David Greyhound of the Infantry Corps. came out clad in the new Standard Minutemen kit consisting of a full set of combat armor with the Minutemen emblem on the chest plate, Army Fatigues, a .308 Combat Rifle already affixed with a bayonet, a 10mm Pistol and a Combat Knife with enough rounds for the mission. He moved out of the APC with haste and climbed up the stairs even faster to avoid getting shot, with the raiders being occupied by their Heavy Weapons expert, David's best friend Private John Goldsman came up to the door with a combat shotgun in hand just as the rest of his squad piled up near the entrance as other people made their way to their breaching points

"Bring that door down Private!" yelled their Sergeant from behind.

"Yes sir!" John replied back as he shot of the hinges that held the door in its place just as he blasted the door in the middle to make it fall down, soon receiving curses and opposing gunfire, in an instant everyone threw a fragmentation grenade inside and waited for the detonation, as soon as the grenades went off screams followed then it died down.

"Jones, Rose, keep the left flank clear! Rose, tell Frank to get up here and help keep the left flank clear, David, John and Lilith, on me!" Sargent Luis Hammond said as the orders were carried out.

The .308 rounds made quick work of the raiders, with or without armor but what made it even easier was having the high ground making easy pickings for them, the four soldiers made their way to the stair leading downstairs, a well-placed frag grenade cleared the right part, gunfire from above symbolized the raiders were trying to make a push which the other 3 were holding off.

"Jones, push the left flank, we'll catch up." Luis radioed in and the heavy footsteps of power armor was heard.

The four rushed their way back to help the left flank, as they descended down the stair David was hit in the chest, causing him to fall down the stairs and have his lungs extracted of air instantly.

"David! Hang in there." John yelled as he fired three rounds from his shotgun to try and supress the enemy.

Private Jones Conner saw this and alerted the squad medic Corporal Lilith Thanes "David's hit, go attend to him, I got this." she left immediately with Jones coveing with his Automatic Assault Rifle, the drum mag made sure it gave them hell before he reloaded.

John dropped the shotgun and grabbed David's rifle and shot three raiders right before the medic came by to examine John's best friend.

"What happened?" the medic asked in the middle of a gunfight

"David got nicked in the chest, no visible blood loss or entry wound, armor must have taken the round." John replied back as he sent another raider to hell.

"His chest is going up and down meaning he is still alive." Lilith immediately slapped David in the face as hard as she can, upon impact David woke up instantly, gasping for air.

"What happened?! Where's my rifle?! Where are we?!" David asked in succession as he scrambled for his sidearm.

"Chill, you took a round to the chest, must have been a .38 since there is no visible damage, try not to strain yourself." Lilith said as John gave him back his rifle.

David stood up and began his duties again, they went down and rejoined the rest of the group, as soon as they were down there they cleared out the area as fast as possible, David decided to charge the last raider with his bayonet going against the wishes of the medic, as soon as the bayonet made contact with his target he hoisted him up and then drove him into the floor, the blade going through completely as he felt the tip hit something concrete.

"I told you not to strain yourself David!" Lilith said as the squad just laughed.

"What can I say, I'm running on adrenaline." David replied back.

"Well that gets people killed, c'mon, we have more sectors to clear, get up that catwalk." Luis said as he lead the squad forward.

They opened the door and saw another raider ready to shoot them all, Corporal Frank Donnivan fired his minigun, the shots missed but hit an oil puddle which lit up the corridor sending any raiders coming to reinforce their comrade back to "safety", after the burning stopped an explosion was heard, they all advanced down the ramp except for Frank who took the shortcut by jumping down.

"My suit's Geiger counter is reading rads, not to serious but we should move." Frank informed his squad as they continued to the lower levels.

They reached a corridor lit by red lights with more raiders and a turret behind them, the turret opened up and nearly clipped David and Jones if it wasn't for the quick thinking of their squad leader who was able to pull them back in time.

"Watch where your going dammit, getting casualties on a first assignment is not good, Frank get up there and give 'em hell." Luis said from the gunfire just as Frank went up.

The power armor was not harmed as a multitude of rounds struck his armor with the others right behind him shooting from behind. The 5mm rounds made short work of the turret and the raiders who weren't harmed by the other 6 people behind Frank, with the turret down they could advance up more freely

They reached a room with a pipe and a raider who held a hostage at gunpoint making the squad halt their advance, a Search and Destroy mission had turned into a rescue mission all of a sudden with this discovery.

"Back off or I paint the floor with his brains!" the raider yelled as she had her sawed off shotgun pointed at his head, the hostage pleaded for help with the raider occasionally telling him to shut up.

Before anyone could say anything a few feral ghouls emerged from the open pipe turning the attention of the raider to the ghouls, with this John and Jones made short work of the ghouls with the symphony of assault rifle and shotgun fire. The raider was distracted by what happened and the advantage was taken as David was able to get her to surrender by pointing his rifle at her while Lilith tended to the hostage.

"Frank, interrogate her." Luis said quite flat

Their Heavy Weapons Corps. member came up to her and hoisted her up by her head with one hand, with a single order he could crush her head or if Sargent Luis was in a good mood, knock her out, but given the hostage, she would probably be executed after.

"Are there any other hostages in the factory? Come now scum, ANSWER ME!" Luis yelled.

"I ain't telling you shit." the raider replied back as she spat on the sergeant's chest plate.

"Unmannered scum indeed, Frank, kill her." He said completely calm.

With a nod he tightened his grip on her head as she began to scream for it to stop, saying that she was going to give away any information they needed.

Lies.

The screaming stopped with the sound of bone and brain matter being squished together and falling onto the floor.

"God I don't think I'll remove that from my mind ever again." David said as he tried to hold his breakfast in.

"This is combat kid, it's not all about glory and victory, you'll be seeing worse." Luis spoke as if the mission was done.

They re-traced their steps and ended back in the carnage of their past battle, Rose and John were told to take the hostage to back to the convoy outside, while they waited for their two squad mates, David saw Frank looking at the floor, not even paying attention to anything.

"Hey big guy, you fine?" David asked.

"Not really, I've done things like that before, but they never screamed like her, as if she regret it, maybe if I stopped she would have spilled it." Frank replied back.

"Maybe it was because she was a girl?" David made an assumption.

"Nah, I did that to other girls who were Raiders and Gunners, maybe because I did it in front of new guys, well, how are you then?" Frank asked as he picked up his minigun.

"I'm fine, you should ask everyone else though in my opinion." David said as he re-mounted his bayonet, just in time as Rose and John came back down, with a command from their sergeant they all went through a double door to come into contact with 2 other squads.

"Hold fire, friendlies." each commanding officer said almost at the same time.

"We found a hostage in the lower levels, what about you guys?" Luis asked his counterparts.

"Found one, dead, the guy was tortured first before they killed him, poor guy." Sergeant Philip Hans shared his report

"We didn't find any hostages, but we have some injured, someone from Philip's squad took a round to his right leg, someone from my squad took a Molotov directly set her arm on fire, damage can't be told properly until we get to a controlled hospital, any casualties on your side Luis?" asked Sergeant Tommy Langley

"None, one got hit with a .38 on the chest piece, deflected, we have planned to stop by a controlled hospital also." Luis responded back

"C'mon, let's take the last level then get out of here." Sargent Philip said as he led the charge upstairs.

Everyone else followed suit, soon those in power armor took over everyone else, the last floor was blocked by a locked door, not much to stop 3 power armor units as the 3 just ran through the door making it look like nothing was even there in the first place.

"Raymond, watch your fire in here!" Sargent Tommy yelled from behind as the rest of the squads finally caught up which added to the chaos happening inside the production level.

The last of the raiders inside where holed up inside what seemed to be the control center of the production area, a few well-placed grenade or rocket could end the mission now and help assist 4th squad with the raiders who were positioned on the roof when they entered the facility.

"Raymond, shoot that blue box thing! The last of the shits are in there!" Sergeant Tommy yelled to Corporal Raymond Herring who placed another rocket inside his rocket launcher.

Corporal Raymond got on one knee despite the .38 & .45 rounds played an unknown symphony as they made contact with his armor, the real threat was dead as the turrets were dead, he fired into a window sending the HE warhead through, killing a few and injuring more, reloading once more he aimed for the next window and repeated it until he has fire into all visible windows, after that it was quiet.

"Someone needs to check if they're done for, who wants to do it?" Sergeant Philip asked.

Immediately David, John and two others stood up and made their way to the walkway, one of them hit a button to extend the walkway and then proceeded onwards. What they got when they got there was a mass of gore, courtesy of 3 HE warheads through the windows.

They went through the bodies, poking, turning and moving them about, seeing if they were dead, one of the bodies taught to be a goner began to move again, reaching for a pipe pistol which David noticed.

David stepped on the crude pistol and swept it away "Don't you dare." he said to the raider "We got someone, possible prisoner."

The raider grabbed a combination wrench and swung it at David's right knee causing him to fall down and scream due to his knee being dislocated on impact. David fell down dropping his rifle in the process, the raider scrambled for the rifle but David grabbed his 10mm pistol and pulled the trigger in the fastest manner possible but it wasn't enough as the raider grabbed the rifle and aimed it right at David despite the fact he was shot in the chest multiple times, the raider's troubles ended when a shotgun was fired from John.

David assessed the damage done to his joint and cringed at how the kneecap was sticking out "Why do they only provide protection for our thighs."

"Ask the guys from 230 years ago, then you tell me huh." John replied as he helped David up.

"Want me to pray to them, well then Fuck. You." David said back

"That's nice but I'm not gay."

"Ha ha"

As John hoisted David up, John began to assist him back to the cluster of squads down below were gathering. As soon as John set David down Lilith rushed to David to inspect what happened as their sergeant walked up

"What's his condition Lilith?" sounded Sergeant Luis said in an almost caring tone.

"Knee's been dislocated, I can try to put it back but he won't be able to walk, let alone run properly." Lilith replied.

"Do it, Frank, David needs a piggy back ride." Luis ordered.

As Lilith was about to try to fix David's knee, David interrupted her procedure.

"Do I get to bite on something or AAAAAHHH!" he yelled as Lilith went on with the procedure.

"Yes, your tongue." Lilith replied back after throwing him a part of a sweet roll she had.

Everyone laughed for a while because how it reminded them of going to the doctors back then when they were kids, after the laughing John helped David get on Frank's power armor as quickly as possible.

"Can you still hold your rifle?" asked Frank with the rifle in his left hand.

"Sorry big guy, pistol's the only thing I can carry at the moment." David said as he slammed a new mag into the age old weapon system.

Everyone made for the exit as Raymond kicked the door down making the disconnected door fly and hit a Raider.

They all opened up on the raiders, they could hear the other raiders being pushed back by 4th squad which was followed with the sound of heavy footsteps as the rest of them began to run as they were being gunned down. The last raider was putting up a fight, the individual was wearing cage armor and was able to put down a line as he fired his hunting rifle blindly, it would seem no one had an angle and with most of them stacking up on the last one David had an idea.

"Frank move back, I think I could get a shot, I can see his rifle from that window." David said.

Frank back-pedalled until David said so, he fired once with his pistol, no hit, he fired a second and third, nothing but the fourth got the last raider his attention, he went down as he tried to light a Molotov to throw out the window and their Lieutenant charged him, they wrestled with all their might until the Lieutenant broke his attack and slammed the butt of his laser musket into the raider's abdomen, the Lieutenant kicked him to the window and hit him in the head with his laser musket causing the raider to fall off, the Lieutenant cranked his weapon once and shot him in the head, they were sure he was dead.

"Sergeants, take your squads back to the APCs and get ready to move to Medford Memorial." with that Lieutenant pulled out a flare gun to signal the Vertibird back for pickup as the rest of the squads made their way to the APCs.

As they got back to their transports, they saw some Specialists outside their vehicles, acting as infantry support as the APCs swiveled their cannons left and right looking for threats.

"Where's the hostages we found Specialist?" Sergeant Luis asked.

"Center vehicle sir, they're tired, hungry, dehydrated and almost black and blue." the Specialist replied back.

"Good, orders were to stop by Medford Memorial, we'll have the docs take a look at them and our guys, so mount up." Luis replied back.

With the last three words said, the Specialists scrambled back into their vehicles as they lowered the ramps for everyone else to get on and strap in, but David's squad had been positioned in the center vehicle with the hostages, forcing John and Jones to ride on top since the design of the APCs didn't have space in mind.

 **Commonwealth Wastelands**

 **Medford Memorial Hospital**

 **1900 Hours**

Medford Memorial Hospital was once filled with Super Mutants before the renovation, before they were able to gain a foothold in the hospital they had to clear out the every single Super Mutants, a job the Brotherhood were very happy to oblige with, they had performed enough repairs to get it to operational status, roughly taking over a year of filling out holes, repairing what was left of the wiring and cleaning the rooms and facilities, a job easier said than done.

Everyday soldiers from the 3 factions and civilians enter and exit the facility and today was no exception. The transports of 4th Platoon where in line, right behind a Railroad owned transport truck being cleared for entrance, after the guard dog was done sniffing the transport the Brotherhood Knight raised the barrier gate and let the transport through. 4th Platoon's convoy was stopped by the same Knight.

A Specialist popped out of his hatch and gave them the order form of their mission to the Knight, he signalled for 3 other men to come forward, 2 Minutemen from the Infantry Corps and one Railroad agent.

"Open the back, we need to check all your credentials, including yours." the Knight said as the 3 others began to go to an APC.

The Specialist obliged and gave him his and his crew's credentials holotapes and asked "Why the security buff?"

"We had incidents of people in our uniforms stealing supplies from here and other facilities, probably Gunners." the Knight replied as he took of to the terminal inside the makeshift guard house.

"Gunners getting to desperate now I see." the Specialist yelled back only receiving a nod from him.

As soon as all the credentials were scanned and verified they were let through and allowed the center APC to dock in the Emergency bay. As the door came down paramedics began to assist the hostages to the proper doctors, one of them brought a wheelchair for David which he at first told them it was unnecessary and he could walk until he fell down right outside the APC.

Now a clearly humiliated David was being wheeled in by a paramedic to be attended by the appropriate doctor, after waiting a paramedic had informed them that they can now give him an X-Ray for his leg. After the X-Ray the doctor looked at the clearly worried David as he waited for his result whether he would be able to continue his career as a Minuteman.

"David, you're lucky that the raider had missed your kneecap or else you'd be behind a desk as an office worker in Fort Hagen or the Switchboard, you'll be using this splint for a 3-5 days, if you don't use that leg at all and we remove the splint then your chances of being cleared for duty would increase." the doctor said.

A sigh of relief was heard from David as he said in triumph "John I can still be a Minuteman!"

"Good, I don't like the idea of sitting behind a desk for days on end analyzing data." John said as he entered the room.

The two began to chat among themselves about plans when they got back to their base until the doctor interrupted them.

"You are David Greyhound right?" the doctor said as he examined the X-Ray of David's knee.

"Yes, why?" David replied.

"Ah good, I told your aunt you were here." the doctor said.

David went from enthusiastic to almost scared at the mention of his aunt, something his best friend had noticed instantly.

"Hey buddy, you okay?" John asked waving his hand in front of him.

"My aunt... knows I'm here... injured..." David responded back slowly.

"Hey at least you have some family here, uh what's her position here?" John replied back.

Before the answer could come the door opened and revealed a woman in a lab coat, she had short hair, fair skin and dark brown eyes with a foreign accent known as 'French'.

"Ah Director, I'll be leaving now." the doctor said as he grabbed his clipboard and went out the door.

"David, I never knew your aunt was the director in charge of Medford Memorial, uh isn't she too young to be the director?" John asked.

"No Private Goldsman, I am qualified to be in zis position as I have the experience of over 200 years, in fact I am the head of all medical facilities active today." said the director.

"What!? I thought only one person survived Vault 111?" John said in surprise.

David rolled his eyes at his best friend's statement "For fucks sake dude, she's a synth."

John was left with his mouth hanging at disbelief, the hospital was being run by a synth.

The director slapped her nephew on the head with a clipboard on the table before scolding him "When did you learn zis type of language? I will make a report to your father immediately for the re-education of our troops to be more respectful."

David rubbed the part of his head which made contact with the clipboard "Well Aunt Curie, if we weren't in combat all the time, maybe we would curse less."

 _"WHACK!"_

Curie once again hit her nephew with the same clipboard at the sarcastic statement before looking at the damage done to his leg "Well you seem to be fine, but promise me that you will be more careful."

"Yes Aunt Curie." replied David like a child.

"Also watch your language next time, Private Goldsman please be sure that he doesn't use zat leg too much." Curie said as she passed David a pair of crutches.

"Yes ma'am." John replied back crisply.

As they were about to leave the PA system chimed in _"Infantry Corps 4th Platoon to the Vehicle bay, I repeat Infantry Corps 4th Platoon to Vehicle bay, that is all."_

"Guess we have to go now, nice meeting you ma'am." John said as he helped David get up from the bed.

"Not so fast." Curie said signing a paper "Zis is David's clearance form, show zis to you lieutenant if he questions his physical state."

David took the paper and pulled his aunt into an embrace before exchanging their goodbyes, soon making their way to the vehicle bay.

As they got to the vehicle bay, the best friends saw the APCs lined up perfectly ready for departure, as they approached they were stopped by their lieutenant, David simply showed him the paper and was let on board, but before they could leave they had to give their credential holotapes once more before they were cleared to leave for their base.

 **Commonwealth Wastelands**

 **Outer Perimeter of Sanctuary Hills**

 **2300 Hours**

After coming across many newly established checkpoints and having their credentials checked, they were finally able to reach the base they were stationed in, Sanctuary Hills, while most greenhorns would want to be stationed in AFB Spectacle or the Castle, Sanctuary Hills was the second best thing, it was a Minutemen installation and a trade hub outside the gates were caravans and convoys all lined up, what took the longest were the caravan traders, making sure they weren't spies working for the Gunners, Raiders or Remnants of the Institute.

The outer wall was scary in its own way, Missile turrets with HEAT warheads instead of the usual HE warheads were being used to make quick work of anything with armor, there were 2 tanks outside the gate, both had their turrets aimed at the nearest vehicle or caravan ready to end them if things went wrong, spotlights were outside as well, and troops constantly went back and forth the line of vehicles.

After what may have been 30 minutes, David's convoy finally rolled up to the entrance, hearing the all too familiar sound of tank turrets traversing to face them as the doors opened up to allow their passengers to present their credentials holotapes.

After a few minutes of checking the holotapes and the serial numbers of the APCs, the Captain in charge gave a signal for his subordinates to open the gates after giving the Head Specialist of the convoy a slip which indicated that they have returned with their vehicles.

The APCs drove down the road passing by more infantry and the Vertibird landing area, after a while they pulled up and finally parked right beside a tank parking area, the doors came down and out came the tired soldiers.

Everyone headed into the armory to deposit their kits, as they went inside, it was seen that it was heavily defended, a plethora of turrets were inside with a Heavy Weapons Corps member holding a Gatling Laser, as they got deeper inside, rows of weapons and armor could be seen, David with his crutches walked up to a rack or .308 Combat Rifles and put his in the rack, next he walked up to a rack of 10mm pistols, he pulled out his sidearm and placed it with the rest, he then proceeded to remove his chest plate with some problems.

"Need help with that." Lilith asked with concern in her voice.

"Nope, I got it." replied David right before he nearly fell.

Lilith chuckled before she went to assist David in removing his armor buckles, the chest plate was first, after that was the pauldrons, and last were the leg pieces. David sat down for this part. Lilith tried to not look as awkward as it did while David just looked away, something John had seen and decided to capitalize on that.

"Hay, get a room you two!" John yelled from across the room gaining a few laughs right before 2 leg pieces came flying towards him, almost hitting him.

"Hey! Watch it!" an Infantry Corps Corporal who was on Military Police assignment yelled from across the room as well making everyone turn back to their original activities.

"Apologies sir!" John and Lilith said in unison as the MP left, as soon as the MP turned away Lilith wasted no time to drill her elbow into John's side.

Gasping in pain John said "I guess I did deserve that."

"Yeah, you did." David said as he put the respective pieces of armor on their racks.

Those who were done pulled out their requisition slip from their pockets and went to the quartermaster present to retrieve their berets indicating they were now off duty. As David handed his requisition slip and received his beret, he waited for his best friend outside.

David brushed back his black hair with his hand before he put his beret back on, his green eyes stuck out from everyone else, the fair skin tone he had was the product of training under the sun, without his armor he seemed weaker, but looks could deceive.

John walked out of the armory, his blonde hair somewhat messy his built almost the same as David's but slightly bulkier, his brown eyes were fairly common but always seemed happy, he was unnaturally pale despite the training under the sun.

"Of to the barracks?" David said as he straightened his Army Fatigues.

"Mess hall, I want a drink." John replied, rubbing his throat as a gesture of his thirst.

They both went to the mess hall to grab a drink, late at night, given they just finished a mission meant they would be allowed to oversleep for the next day only. The two friends were now seated a table, drinks in hand, David had a Nuka-Cherry in his grasp while John had a beer, the two talked about the day's events.

"When you said drink I imagined you getting some water, not alcohol." David to a sip from his drink.

"Yeah well, I earned this drink." John said as he took gulps from his drink.

"Wanna take this to the barracks?" David asked.

"Nah, they're all asleep or almost drunk."

"Good point."

John popped open his second bottle of beer and began to finish it's contents slowly as David was still trying to finish his first bottle of soda.

"That's your second one buddy, you've reached your limit." David reminded.

"Yeah, kinda tired anyway." John finished his drink just as David began to take bigger gulps from his, they both finished their drinks and disposed of the bottles and went on their way to the barracks.

As the two walked into the barracks most of the people inside where getting ready to sleep, the barracks was a simple as it can get, a two story structure with double-deck beds just about everywhere, the two moved to their bunks to get some well-deserved rest.

 **Commonwealth Wastelands**

 **Location Unknown**

 **Time Unknown**

A commanding figure stood over a with a light so bright only his figure could be seen in the inky darkness, a console with a map and stolen from the Minutemen, The Railroad and the Brotherhood of Steel, he looked at them ever so focused as if he were in a different world where data was given, broken down, analyzed and re-processed to be understood.

"Lieutenant?" the figure said, still focused on the stolen documents.

A woman polishing her plasma pistol stood up from behind "Yes sir?"

"We need to re-evaluate the threat level of the Minutemen and this Railroad group, with their re-discovery, the Commonwealth just became a tougher target, especially with their little treaty of theirs." The figure said.

"Shall I assemble a recon squad?" she questioned.

"No, get a few agents into their ranks, cause some commotion to destabilize them and their alliances, the Brotherhood of Steel was a big enough threat in their own, but now with the re-surfacing of their armored vehicles, plans need to change." The figure replied back.

"We're trying sir, but they've started to notice something is wrong, they keep checking their credentials every checkpoint they go to." she complained.

The figure slammed his fist on the console, scattering papers and almost breaking the screen "Not good enough!"

"We'll try sir but if we do, I'm afraid this Railroad would eventually find out of our activities and report us to the Minutemen and the Brotherhood, then for sure we'll be found." She reasoned with him.

Sighing in defeat, he pulled out a cigar and lit it, he inhaled and puffed out smoke "Fine, but I need results. What of the other facilities you've found?"

"We've began to occupy them now, all except for some that have been taken already." She informed.

"Good, at least there's some progress." He replied back before having his Lieutenant leave him to his research.


End file.
